At the end of the fashion month, industry experts acknowledged a new emerging influence in the world of fashion. From Paris to New York people were watching Kanye West’s collection debut. His debut was slammed by the industry’s elite, but surprisingly it become a hit on the web.
One of the most influential online fashion experts Style.com releases a list of the most viewed collections during the fashion weeks every season. While Chanel has been almost every time leading in the ranking, last season Karl Lagerfeld’s show beat out the second one, Dolce & Gabbana, by more than a million hits. But now, a surprising winner of the fashion month was just revealed and that is a name we’re all familiar with for many reasons and high-end fashion isn’t one of them. At least, until now. Rapper Kanye West, a music star and celebrity husband of reality TV queen Kin Kardashian, debuted his first catwalk collection in collaboration with Adidas Originals at New York Fashion Week in February.
His Autumn/Winter 2015-2016 ready-to-wear collection was loved by his fans, but criticized by the industry elite, with even Fashion Week creator, Fern Mallis saying she was “over” West and his agenda wasn’t her style. Renowned fashion publicist Kelly Cutrone was even harsher, saying he was a joke as a designer. His outfits were more or less bizarre – skin-tight nude body stockings, bomber jackets, neutral colors, military greens, cropped tops, and so on. However, his show got 4,578,461 page views, beating Chanel by more than one million views! According to other experts, he managed to bring different shapes and body forms, and finally diverse models into the world of fashion.
Whatever the reason, Kanye West turned into the most discussed “designer” during this fashion season – he even outshone the Zoolander bomb, and is a factor we just can’t ignore. But let’s take a look at the other designers in the list of the 10 most viewed catwalk shows of this season.
- Kanye West x Adidas Originals, page views: 4,578,461, new entry
- Chanel, views: 3,405,945
- Dolce & Gabbana, views: 2,905,544
- Valentino, views: 2,547,
- Saint Laurent, views: 2,244,004
- Gucci, views: 2,102,173
- Louis Vuitton, views: 2,025,937
- Prada Page, views: 1,996,781
- Givenchy, views: 1,933,750
- 10. Dries Van Noten, views: 1,900,555
